Beach Party - July 28

We actually had a pretty large group at the origami class on Friday. I think everyone was a bit confounded by my attempt at teaching the WXYZ. EH finished hers from the last week. She's really good.

EH helped me setup for the Beach Party.

Scallop Ceviche
Fiesta Slaw (5 kinds of peppers!)
Cucumber Salad
Fruit Salad (mango, honeydew, blueberries w/lime ginger reduction)

KR actually had her swimsuit on, RV brought hers with, but no one else was in a festive mood. I think the most fun part of the night was the Rubik's Cube solving/foot massage episode on the bed. (Ignoring the liquid latex & dirty dice episodes in the living room.)

WTC - July 26

Saw a preview screening of World Trade Center tonight in downtown Brooklyn. It was a bit nerve-wracking watching scenes from that horrible day five years ago. I remember screaming into the telephone at my brother, telling him to get out of the city as fast as he could, as I saw the 2nd tower collapse from the windows at work. Felt a wave of nausea when the movie showed a jumper and wanted to get out of my seat every time there was a *smack* while the cops were in the concourse, because you knew that was supposed to be the sound of flesh on pavement. People in the theatre were crying. I still think that it's all too near, too close, at least for anyone that was in New York that day.

Today is the greatest - July 24

I was thinking of going to the Mets game, but was feeling too shitty at the end of work to bother. I stuck around for a while, cuz I thought AB wanted to go to Home Depot, but that didn't happen either. So that means I didn't meet with SH or anybody else for that matter. Went to Loreley for a drink. Miri was nice enough bring me a liter of my favorite. (God, I've been drinking so much lately.) I was sitting alone on a bench in the beer garden (surrounded by strangers) when two men and a girl of about 7 years were placed at my table. German dude and girl's dad were talking business while the kid fidgeted in the corner. I started making some origami, since I was just drinking and staring off into space. The dad was such a pompous ass, talking about all the "stupid models" he was dating, and German dude was lapping it up. I finished making the Kawasaki star and gave it to the kid, Zoey. She seemed happy. The dad started talking to me, but I just wanted him to shut up. I left. Wandered around aimlessly until I came across a photo op. Pulled out my giant analog (as in real film) camera and snapped a pic. It was such a ridic end to the day.

Pelfrey pitches - July 23

Went to Shea (with bro, MC & his dad) to watch Mike Pelfrey pitch against the Astros. Chris Burke was the #3 hitter for the Astros, so you'd figure it would be a cake-walk for the Mets. Pelfrey was dealing until the 4th inning that is, the bullpen didn't do much better. And there was that awful, awful defensive play by Heilman in the 8th inning. The Mets lost 8-4.

We left early, I wanted to go to Pollo Campero after the game, but bro thought it better to just visit the folks for dinner. Next time.

Got in touch with LT in Austin, comfirmed receipt of party photos and also got Beth's contact info. We'll see if she actually comes by on Friday.

RV is back from the OBX today. Yay!

DF will be back from Shanghai on Wednesday too. Yay!

Full Power - July 23

We just got full power back in my apartment. So that was 2 days of no power at all and 4 days of low power (no hot water, no fridge, no internet, dimmed lights, spotty AC). Can we sue ConEd? Here's a claim form where one can recoup some of the losses from this week.

UPDATE

We actually don't have full power yet. Still no hot water or fridge. This is such bullshit.

I'm not a rockstar - July 21

I totally bailed on Betsy's party, but there was no way I could head out to Cobble Hill and make all the other parties on the schedule. I also completely forgot to get in touch with NT that night, she might be pissed at me. VI has the lowdown on the night's festivities. She's always so informative. And yes, I am in fact 50% cooler than her. (I know, it's supposed to be "she" instead of "her").

But we did have to drag JM's drunken ass all the way back to his home (and wife) at 5am in the morning. She looked remarkably unfurious (is that a word?) to see us. That and the earlier (potential) cock-blocking was kind of awesome.

Hermit - July 20

I was planning on going home early and sleeping after the previous night of debauchery, so I canceled my volunteer sessions and softball game, but got a reminder just before I got off work that we had to go out for JL's (delayed) birthday celebration. This is similar to the delayed birthday celebration of the other JL (at Red Bamboo). Well not all that similar, I just spent so much time traveling on both those nights. PF & TS were already at the spot, JK arrived shortly thereafter. I'd been wandering around K-town for a good 30 minutes before I saw them. JL showed up with Isabelle, my favorite Québécoise. She punched me in the arm and asked me if I was still a "player". I was kind of dumbfounded by the question since I'd only met her that one time at the potluck JL hosted last summer. I can't remember the last time I was anybody's loverboy. The soju was flowing freely throughout dinner, but we still ended up at O'Reilly's afterwards. I really needed to get out of there. Somehow managed to get home a few hours later.

More Random Encounters - July 20

Walking up from Wall Street this morning, I ran into Dogood (Dewgood?) from July 4th party #2. I guess she works down there. I happened to have pictures from that night in my bag, so she took a couple of the photos.

And I'm still in blackout mode. I should order some more photon lights.

Blackout! - July 19

It's the 2nd day of the blackout in Sunnyside. What a nightmare. Crashing at a friend's place tonight, bro is doing the same (different friend). Was planning on staying at work but WGY came back to town, and saw him instead. Met up with DAY at Puck Fair. Moved onto Loreley where we met XS. Said hello to Gunter and ordered the usual. He asked if I'd gone to the Met with Nadia & Anya last week. I told him no. Had food and way too much to drink. Saw Andre from ICNY there. He was there with his girl, Eloise, E's sister Katherine, Annie, Meredith & Phoebe. So I made at least three new friends tonight. :) Oh yeah, we stopped off at Babeland before parting ways at DAY's sport bike. Also bumped into Steve and Sandy from MC's last BBQ on the roof. Busy night.

Bastilllle Day & MoMA Summergarden - July 16

I met up with VI for brunch and headed over to the Bastille Day Festival. Walked along all three blocks, and had some freshly squeeeezed lemonade. We ended up "paying for quality", the same way one pays for quality in the meatpacking district - we got ripped off.

Wandered into Central Park and sat on a schist outcropping for a while. Discussed impending doom or something.

Wandered out of the park over to Columbus Circle. Walked thru through the circle to get to the TimeWarner Center and AC relief when we saw some (naked) kids splashing around in the fountains. Ha!

Cooled our heels and our butts inside Whole Foods. Popped into Williams & Sonoma to look at some butcher blocks and islands where we ran into Bob & Lee (also bought some kitchen towels and the Le Creuset cookbook). Paid for some lemonade quality again at Bouchon Bakery.

Back out into the heat and Summergarden performance at MoMA. Saw JK on line, EH showed up later and we ended up sitting with AC right near the big green metal sculpture. The performance was quite good. But why is NYC full of all these foreign savages? There was a French couple behind us that wouldn't shut up and there were the two Euro girls in front of us showing way too much whale-tail and then having the gall to lie down in the middle of the walkway. I could barely contain VI's rage. I thought she would get up and throttle them at some point.

We (me, VI & AC) were pretty famished (ravished?) after the music (at least a 90 minute set) and shuffled over to Burger Joint. Thankfully it was not crowded at 10:30 on a Sunday night. It was AC's first time!

God, what time is it?

DH's finale, Nadia, Anya & more poker - July 14

Another person leaving for greener pastures. I'm going to miss DH.

The morning was pretty uneventful, and EH was the only one at the origami class. Went back to drop off my stuff, so I could be free to drink at Loreley. Gunter saw me walk in, so he started pulling me a liter of Hefeweisse. It's good to be a regular. :) Anyway, grabbed my stein and walked back into the garden to join the rest of the work masses. Passed by this cute girl on the way back. She looked a bit confused, so I guessed she was looking for the restrooms and pointed her in the right direction (I'm good at giving directions, just ask Ash). Two tables were already full, so I sat at a semi-occupied table with EH across from me. She was still working on the WXYZ modular I'd taught her earlier. There was a pretty girl sitting at the other end of my bench and then the girl I'd passed on the way in sat down next to me, no doubt to join her friend. I wasn't really involved in any of the other conversations, so I broke out the 2" paper in my pocket and started folding. My neighbor seemed interested, so I offered (in German) to teach her (Nadia) the Kawasaki Star and got her friend at the end (Anya) to join the folding party. Their English was better than my German, so we switched to that while we were chatting and folding.

Nadia (the half-Chinese/half-German girl) and Anya (the basketball player) are both here on holiday after finishing Gymnasium and in the 3rd week of their 6-week jaunt through the USA. Nadia was a bit more shy, while Anya (quite the statuesque beauty at well over 6'2") had a funny little Southern drawl when she spoke English. Turns out she spent an exchange year in Kentucky a few years back, so I brought out my best North Carolina twang. Ignored the rest of the work posse for the next hour, took photos (on their digital camera, I'd left my analog at work) and made tentative plans to hang out again when they came back from Kentucky in 2 weeks. :)

The most interesting part of this whole thing for me was the array of reactions from my co-workers. I guess most hadn't ever seen me in full-effect and they seemed amazed/awed/appalled that I had these two pretty young girls fully engaged in under 5 minutes.

Walked the girls back to Spring St. and suggested they swing by the Neue Galerie since they were planning a Met/Guggenheim run.

Later in the day...

Met with bro and got to JN's place for the game that night. The plan was to play HORSE, but we just ended up playing HORE. I'd actually prefer HOR. It was another bad night of poker for me, down $50. But I was still a happy man at the end of the day.

Boing boing - July 13

I think I used my MetroCard 7 times on Thursday.

Sunnyside - Upper East Side - SoHo - Financial District - SoHo - DUMBO - Walk over Brooklyn Bridge - Financial District - Sunnyside.

I love this history of Sunnyside on Forgotten NY.

Sexy Little Knits!!!

I was very tired at the end of the day.

Pirates, argh! - July 11

Saw Pirates OTC:DMC on Tuesday with MC. It was fun, especially the three-way swordfight thru the jungle. One thing of note happened. I totally wrenched my legs (and back) climbing over the seats. Which is probably why I was laid up the next day. Some other thing happened, maybe. Damn, I really can't remember now.

World Cup Final (Woe is Zidane) - July 9

What was Zizou thinking?
Maybe if Lizerazu was still around the profusion of Z's on the French team would have prevented ZZ from attacking the idiot defender.

I was so upset by the whole thing that I went and saw the Lake House with VI and MB. There were some idiot kids in the theatre, but AMC did give us movie passes to make up for the "inconvenience".

Okay, all I have left is the Origami Convention, July 4th, and Lily's last day.

SITP (aborted), Cyclones & Sushi - July 8

UPDATED

I stayed up later than I should have after the Met game, but I still woke up at 6AM and managed to get on the line for Macbeth. I got to the Public Theatre by 7:20, but there were at least 100 crazies ahead of me. I was standing/waiting near some garbage, when I looked back towards the end of the line and saw V, EH's friend from Argentina! Stepped out of the line and went back about 10 places to hang out with her, while the rest of the line-waiting crew showed up over the next hour. First CW and J, then JL, NE, and finally AH. The waiters eventually numbered between a baker's dozen and a score. Since everyone didn't get there at the same time, our plans to play MJ and Scrabble while we waited kind of floated off into the aether. So I was chatting with V, playing Spanish bullshit when the line overlords make an announcement around 10AM. At this point there are hundreds upon hundreds of persons on line behind me. "There are no more tickets. The line will be cut off here," at about the same spot (near the garbage) where I started that morning. Ha. Three, maybe four, hours of my life gone.

There was some grumbling and milling around, but we, the waiters minus V, eventually settled on a plan for brunch in the neighborhood. Yaffa Cafe was our final destination. Nostalgia to the max. I used to go there all the time. It was the default middle-of-the-night spot back in the day, when St. Marks was still a little scary and not completely overrun by 14 year-old girls from the suburbs. I miss Save the Robots and The Wetlands too.

Anyway, ZS met us at Yaffa and we waddled over to Tompkins Square Park after brunch. I had to hurry my ass home to catch the rest of the Germany v Portugal third-place match, so I only stayed a few minutes. It somehow took me much longer than expected because of the walk down to Parisi's (instead of the subway) and the attempt to get in touch with WS (since I was in her neighborhood). Meats and cheeses in hand, I trekked back to only catch the end of the match. No one cares about the third-place game, I rationalized.

==========================

This was already a long day for me and I still had another 10 hours to go, but I'm too tired to finish now.

==========================

Okay, so bro, JL and I leave for Keyspan Park. It took us about 80 minutes door to door. The Cyclones are playing some team from State College? and we're meeting the other J there along with HH and the man of the hour, DK. Everyone's late except for HH. There's one other thing about the game that night. It's followed by Dave Kerpen's wedding (brick prison alum), which got tons of coverage in the press. Steve Evangelista was apparently there as part of the wedding party. It would have been funny running into him. I think the last time I saw him was in Cosmos Diner about 10 years ago. Anyway I took off early, with bro, to head back into the city. HH only had room for 4 in his ride and bro was going home early. My aim was to rustle up some fun, because this bachelor party was boring me to tears. I tracked down WS and RV at some bar on St. Marks and we chatted about underwear and baseball. Finally convinced RV to join the party at Ebisu. We got there late, but I caught up pretty quickly (on the sake). We trotted out the same old stories of debauchery in days past, of course the problem is that I'm the only one still trying to make some new stories. But for one brief flicker of a moment, there was a wisp of a chance. We passed by a gaggle of girls wearing slip tops, "She's getting married!!!", a bachelorette party. Here was our chance. But no joy. Everyone kept walking. God, that sucked. It wasn't even midnight. The boys wanted to go home, so I escorted RV to Penn, and later had an encounter with some Korean models (5'10" & 6'2") in Times Square, but who cares, the party was already over.

CC's last day (again), Origami (again) & Mets (again again) - July 7

It's getting harder to remember things from last week.

It was CC's last day, so there was yet another farewell lunch gathering at Loreley. But I had to be at the origami class right before things got under way. It's been a few weeks since I've taught class and actually had students. CC's uncle, German, came by and I showed him the latest modular I learned at the convention (Not the WXYZ [4 intersecting equilateral triangles on 4 different planes], but the stellated icosahedron action model that the Italian dudes were teaching to everybody). German had not been to class in months, so it was good to see him. I showed him how to start the 30 unit construction, and I was off to meet everyone at Loreley (which they always spell wrong in their emails).

Gunter was there (instead of Miri) and he kept us plied with food and drink. I'm always happy to be there. I love the Hefeweizen they have on tap. More pictures...I'm trying to document more...there was another huge gap these past few years.

Mets v Marlins game that night. It was going to be bro, JL, JL, RV & me. JL had six-pack seats with bro, so I was with the other JL & RV. There was some logistical confusion on the way to the Shea, but we all got to our seats in time for the 1st inning. I should note that Jose Lima was pitching on Friday. Yes, it was going to be Lima-time. Too bad Lima-time only lasted until the top of the 3rd when he gave up that grand slam to Dontrelle Willis, the starting pitcher for Florida. I'm just glad I was in the restroom at the time and didn't see it. The game was a lost cause by then, but I tried to keep my mates informed with whatever baseball knowledge/trivia I have stuck in my head. The seemingly massive swap of players between the Mets and Marlins rosters (LoDuca, Delgado, Jacobs to name a few) provided plenty of fodder, I hope. The Mets lost 7-3, but I had a hot dog and 2 beers, so it was a good night out at Shea. :)

Veggies & Word Play - July 6

Our (VI and my) weekly CSA thing got pushed back to Thursday because of July 4th.

I couldn't make the pickup, because of my Thursday ICNY commitments. I hadn't seen either of my conversation partners in two weeks and I couldn't miss three weeks in a row.

My volunteer duties fulfilled, I headed down to the IFC Center to catch the 9 o'clock showing of Word Play. Click for more nerdy details.

I felt a kinship with these folks. It almost felt like I was watching scenes from the Origami USA convention I'd just attended two weeks prior. Looking forward to seeing my folding friends next year.

Since I'm talking about wordplay, an explanation of what the title of this blog means. "Ich will dir mein Herze schenken" is the 1st line to an aria (soprano) sung about a half hour into Bach's St. Matthew Passion (one of my two favorite Bach pieces, the other being the Goldberg Variations). Loosely translated from German it means, "I will give my heart to thee". And the line right after is "Sang für dich". Try putting that into the translator. :)

Farewell CC - July 5

Just finished cleaning up.

So last Thursday, CC asks me if he can host a farewell/fundraising party at my place and that it has to take place before he leaves for Peru on Sunday, the 9th.

Of course I said yes.

It was somehow decided that I would be making ceviche.
Now, I've never made ceviche, I've never even tasted ceviche. So yeah, completely lost. No idea what I'm doing. I finally find a recipe that only requires a 30 minute soak in the acid bath (aka citrus juice/diced pepper mix) before serving.

Recipe in hand I went into the city to pick up the ingredients.
Went to Parisi Bakery to pick up my favorite breads (prosciutto ring!). Back up to Whole Foods for some sea scallops and the rest. Didn't get back home until well into the 1st half of the France v Portugal semi-final (Zidane had already netted his PK by then). Plopped down and watched the rest of the semi-final (Saha is an idiot for getting his 2nd yellow card after he was subbed in with less than 5 minutes to go).

Okay, so after the game I realize that I'm missing a juicer tool, which is vital for all the lemons, limes, oranges... I can't find anything in the stores nearby, so I pop over to Mom's and borrow her juicer. (One of the few times I'm glad the folks live so close)

Now I'm all ready to go. Start the ceviche! Doorbell rings. It's J (the erhu musician/songstress). She's early. We start talking about push-ups in Peoria, but she doesn't remember the ABC Saturday morning cartoon I'm referencing. Anyway EH (the gf) and V (the exotic foreign interloper from Buenos Aires) arrive a few minutes later, followed by bro. He's crashing out from his long day. I set the three ladies to work while I play the role of master chef. They all did a really great job. I barely lifted a finger the rest of the way. KR (2nd baseman/hostess) , CC (guest of honor) , JG (physicist/non-stop talker), JL (happiest man in the world), AC (likes cheese), CB (does not like cheese), CJ (violist) , P (soccer midfielder) , L (Sunnyside represent!), & G (John, John, put your boots on) all filtered in over the next few hours.

The food worked out well and we finally managed to decrease our stockpile of liquor and beer. Not enough photos tonight, but I'll be carrying around the camera all the time now. Also taught the kids how to play Spanish Bullshit, after EH's horrow show of an attempt to teach Chinese Poker.

=====

Oh man, I'm so behind. Origami convention, poker, Superman, Devil Wears Prada, Brooklyn Bridge, Bubba Gump, MoMA and July 4th! I'll try to catch up before the World Cup final on Sunday. I swear.

TC, Brooklyn Bridge, Bubba Gump, Ellen's Stardust and the LES - July 1-5 weekend blowout

TC came down on Saturday for our annual day of fun in the sun. We went over to DUMBO and lounged around in the park before we started across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was the first time for both of us. A bit strange since we both grew up in NYC, a good 50 years (at least) of city-living between us. Then again I love steak and I've never been to Luger's. The pedestrians on the bridge are complete assholes; walking four or more abreast, blocking off both the pedestrian path and the bike lane. The breeze at the apex of the walkway was incredibly refreshing. I would walk to work everyday if I lived in DUMBO.

We got to Manhattan as the sun set, and drifted down into the South Street Seaport. It was an amazing evening to be out, but we ate at this crappy restaurant, Red, that took a bit of luster off the days proceedings. M15 bus back uptown over to the Q32 and we were back home by midnight. TC had arranged a hair appointment on Sunday morning, so we called it an early night.

Bubba Gump the next day. Crayons and shrimp. Huzzah!

Met AB and her bro at MoMA on Monday. We managed to avoid all the interesting bits and were instead cruising for young ladies who might want to become friendly with the younger B.

Now that was a waste of time, so we met up with the bf of AB and had lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner of singing waitstaff fame. That didn't go over too well either. There was no pleasing the boy. Hershey's Store? That was a little better. We eventually just came back to my place where we played video games and I cooked dinner for the sibs from Cali (tofu stir fry!)

July 4th was an odyssey. Two parties in the LES and it was hot as balls. Met RV at Penn Station and dodged rats to get to WS's place. Stuck around for an hour and rushed over to KR's for some poker and the fireworks. Stole out of there with some of her excess food and back to WS's for a drink-fueled, ice-stuffing good time. But it always ends in heartbreak doesn't it.

Animaniacs & Pinky and the Brain are out on DVD tomorrow!

Devil Wears Prada - June 30

Saw the Devil Wears Prada (with AB) on opening night. The AMC Empire 25 was crawling with Conde Nasties. Surreal. And they were all laughing at the so unfunny insider-y jokes. Anne Hathaway was lovely though. Did anyone ever see Havoc? Aren't Gregg Araki's movies much more fun? I really liked Splendour. But then again Kathleen Robertson is a real beauty, so maybe I just like movies with pretty girls.

We also saw a Dave & Buster's on the way out of the building.